Memories
True friendship is powerful and everlasting, so much that changes minds, it changes determinations, it makes anyone to do things that he thought he would never do. It’s even miraculous; after all, like ponies said, friendship is magic. Prologue After thinking about the chances of expanding our glorious nation, the leaders of my nation finally made the decision of sending me to make some research on a particular land, a land not populated by humans, but ponies. Little is known about them, aside of being ruled by two goddess sisters, it’s speculated they’re somehow related to the sun and the moon, but they are not sure. My mission will be gathering information related to strategic resources, their culture and their combat strength based on their army. At first, I didn’t want to do it, but then I accepted after my father, the Supreme General of the Armed Forces, offered me a great promotion if the mission succeeded. Day 0, Commander Edward R. wants me to write reports of my progress every so often, as long as he doesn’t ask me to kill anyone I'll follow his orders. I’m close to a Village belonging to Equestria, its name is Ponyville and is quite small, the ponies here seem to be naive, I’ll do the old trick of pretending to be robbed and hurt so they will help me. This is going to be easy. The Story Day 1, Right now I’m at the hotel of Ponyville. My trick of pretending being victim of an assault close to the Village was successful, some ponies took me to the nursery to make sure I was fine. This Ville is strange but those ponies are very friendly and polite. After I got out of the nursery, a pink pony named Pinkie made a party for me, it wasn’t a bad party after all, but there were neither alcohol, drugs nor sex present (not that I’m into bestiality). Those ponies are naive, they believed on my made-up story and they accepted me as a friend. Day 2, I made a great progress today, Pinkie answered to all my questions without suspecting the reason of why I wanted that information. Here’s the most relevant information: - A purple pony named Twilight, who lives in a library, is actually a student of the goddess princess, Celestia. I will try to befriend her to discover more - The enviroment in this land is not changed by the nature but it’s changed by ponies, from taking care of the animals to change the seasons of the year. It seems that the pegasi play an important role on this, I will keep this in mind when the time comes - The only ponies that control magic are the unicorns. They may represent a threat during the invasion, so I will try to know the location of the most powerful ones. - The politic system here is not very different to the ones I know: Equestria is ruled by two princesses (monarchy), but Ponyville is governed by a Mayor (democracy). - Their main source of food is the apple farm outside the ville. Coincidentally, one of the farmers is Pinkie’s friend, she mentioned her name, but I forgot it. This represents a valuable info on the strategic resources of this land. Actually, I see that Pinkie’s friends,who are five ponies, may play an important role on Ponyville. I asked her to introduce me (and befriend, of course) to her friends. Day 4, nothing important happened, only that I found out about some info about the ponies’ strange tattoos on their flanks (Pinkie said they’re called cutie marks). They don’t represent a hierarchical order as we thought; they only show the pony’s main skill. So far I haven’t seen one that represents something related to combat, so I have 2 theories: or they are not skilled in combat at all or they are good on combat but they’re better at another skill. Day 6, Another success, now I know the other ponies, and they consider me as a friend. However, I’ve just found out they didn’t know anything about the existence of mankind, not even Twilight, which made the process a little harder. Here’s the summary of all six ponies and their importance of their roles: - Twilight Sparkle, Unicorn. Just as Pinkie said, she’s not only the student of Celestia but a faithful one, which means she has a close link to her. However, she can only communicate to her by using a little particular dragon named Spike. I won’t explain the process because I don’t fully understand how it works, but I'll find out later. - Rarity, Unicorn. Fancy tailor unicorn, she’s not very important to the plans, however she’s still a unicorn and I don’t know if she is as powerful as Twilight. I will watch closely to see if she could be a threat. - Rainbow Dash, Pegasus. She claims to be the fastest flier in Ponyville by arguing she can clean the clouds “in ten seconds flat”, although I perceived her as a tomboy, but I don’t know perfectly. Her skill makes her a high valuable subject in Ponyville (and my research). - Fluttershy, Pegasus. Little shy yellow pink-haired pegasus, not much is known about her, only that her specialty is the animal caring. Her case is similar to Rarity, so I need to gather more info to determine the true importance of her role. - Pinkie Pie, Earth Pony. An overactive pony who works at the bakery, she will be the hardest subject to analyze due to her randomness, but most of the time she’s happy, overactive and also she throws parties at the pastry frequently. I heard from Twilight she breaks the fourth wall sometimes, but I don’t know what that is. I wouldn’t consider her as a threat, however her randomness intrigues me, I will keep gathering info. - Applejack, Earth Pony. She and her family are the ones who take care of the apple farm (obvious state, but I still write it). She proudly said her farm feeds the entire population of Ponyville and even on some close towns. With that statement I found out there are more villages nearby, and that her farm is the most important food source in Ponyville. With the information I got so far, it could be said a small army is enough to conquer this land, but I’ll stay a little longer to research more, this is getting interesting. Day 7, I felt a strange sensation, I almost got caught by an adult dragon when I was on my way of giving the first reports to Commander Edward, but my friends saved me. Their friendship is surprising to me, my human friends would surely give up and leave me alone, but they overcame the fear and saved me, they actually consider me as a friend. I don’t know why I’m feeling bad, my mission is to gather info and leave, but I’m in doubt now. What if we are making a mistake, what if those ponies don’t deserve this and we should make an alliance instead?. I need to stop thinking about this, that kind of friendship (between a human and ponies) it’s simply strange and stupid, but somehow I’m starting to feel different. I hope it doesn’t interfere with my plans Day 8, Again that strange feeling, Pinkie threw a surprise party JUST FOR ME, I can’t believe they didn’t only save me from a painful death, but made me a party to feel better. At first I felt confused while a treacherous tear dropped from my eye, but then I felt... happy. I don’t want to do this anymore, I don’t want to betray my friends, but what can I do? On the one hand there’s my career at the army, a career I chose and I’ve been enjoying for my entire life, but on the other hand, there are those true friends, friends who will never leave me alone. I really hope my duty ends soon, for a moment I thought about lying to commander Edward about the military situation, but I’m afraid he won’t believe a word because he already thinks this lands will be easy to invade and conquer Day 11, I found out Commander Edward is planning on using “the project walker”, an experimental weapon that raises the dead by using infected parasprites, he told me he won’t take any risks due to the magic of the unicorns and the flying ability of the pegasus. He also said that this is also the perfect place for the first experimental outbreak. I’m worried, very worried, but I can’t do much without being considered as a traitor, and traitors are considered as the worst kind of person between my people. However, they are still planning the outbreak date, so I have time to warn the Village. Day 13, They don’t talk to me anymore, no pony consider me as a friend, they only consider me as a phony, I don’t know why I thought they would understand me and forgive me after explaining everything. However, not everything is lost, they’re leaving the Village and Edward doesn’t suspect anything, I guess I’ll have to get some corpses from the cemetery to avoid any suspicion. The army will release the walkers tomorrow, I need to hurry Day 14,Edward showed me some photos of Ponyville taken by an UAV, all I saw was a forsaken land, a land where my friends used to live, all I feel now is satisfaction, the commander thinks no pony survived when actually they’re warning the others. Day 20, I’m writing right now just because I want to vent my anger. The commander never told me he spread the virus all over Equestria and destroyed the sky cities with harriers and AA turrets. He even said with a smile on his mouth that this invasion was too easy and fast, no resistance was found, and he even dared to say my reports were useless after all. All I need is to find survivors now, all I want is to find out if my friends are still alive. My god, what have I done? Day 25, With the excuse of searching for a possible resistance army, Edward approved my petition to use the top secret project “eyes in the sky”. Finally I’ll be able to find survivors without having to face the walkers. Day 29, Even with the use of the Blackbird, it still takes time to search on a village. So far I’ve found nothing on Ponyville, Manehattan and the Rock Farms at the east side of Equestria. I won’t lose hope, I know there are survivors somewhere, I feel it. Day 34, I’ve searched through the south part of Equestria without any results. All I see are these walkers wandering and waiting for another unfortunate pony to attack and feed. There’s blood and remains everywhere: on the floor, on the walls, on the water. I don’t want to see these horrible scenes anymore, but I need to search for survivors Day 44, There’s nothing! There are no survivors! I only saw corpses and walkers feeding on them, I want to forget those memories of those poor dead ponies. Fortunately, there’s still one section of Equestria left to be searched: Canterlot. I really hope the princess’ royal guards could have resisted the outbreak, there’s a low chance, but I will find out tomorrow Day 45, after many days of frustration and sadness I finally found some survivors in an abandoned mine close to Appleloosa, I only saw six living ponies through the plane’s heat scan. Maybe it’s the princess, maybe some lucky ponies, maybe there’s truly some resistance, but I’ll need to find out by my own. I don’t care if I have to eliminate all the walkers in the area, I’m just looking for redemption and forgiveness Day 46, Commander Edward doesn’t know I’m here, and i doubt he will, he’s in a long reunion with other commanders planning what to do with the recently conquered lands. Finally I found out who are the survivors, but they didn’t feel happy at all when they saw me. As I expected, they shouldn’t feel happy after what they saw, what they felt and after losing their loved ones. The survivors are Twilight, Princess Luna, Rainbow Dash, Apple Bloom (younger sister of Applejack), Pinkie Pie and Rarity. They don’t talk to me, but they didn't get away from me. I need their forgiveness Day 48, Friendship is indeed very powerful, they all forgave me, even after what happened to them: Twilight: She and Applejack, along with her familiars, moved to Appleloosa to warn the others, but it was too late, they were swarmed by a group of walkers. Applejack, Big Mac and Braeburn gave their lives by diverting the undead while the others escaped. Her friend Spike didn’t wanted to leave Ponyville, he stayed to fight, but that wasn’t enough to stop them. I still wonder how I didn’t see him while I was setting the dead Ponies from the cemetery all over Ponyville that day. Princess Luna: She and her sister fought against the hordes of walkers, but when they were swarmed, Celestia told her to take care of Equestria and used her magic to teleport Luna to this safe place. She thought Celestia was still alive, but sadly I didn’t see anything neither on the heat sensor nor the heartbeat sensor. She started to cry after I said this, and I regret it. Rainbow Dash: When she heard Cloudsdale was under attack she went to defend it. Now she can’t even fly, her wings have been heavily damaged and not even Twilight can heal them. She was also crying in anguish while she looked at her wings, she only said her dreams of becoming a member of the Wonder Bolts were crushed Apple Bloom: She was with Twilight in Appleloosa, She doesn’t talk now, and she’s only holding a yellow pony doll crying and constantly saying “you will be always with me, right sis? Don’t leave me alone ever please, please” Pinkie Pie: She somehow escaped from Ponyville during the outbreak. She’s neither happy nor smiling anymore, her hair is now flat and she’s slowly losing her sanity. Twilight says she was found in the Rock Farm where she grew up with her skin covered in blood, holding a knife, surrounded by bodies and saying “why, why did you had to leave me? All I wanted was to party, but what did I get? Only undead humans devouring my friends, but you will not suffer because auntie Pinkie won’t let it happen”. I suspect she had to kill her friends to avoid suffering. Poor Pinkie,it’s very likely her psychological damage is irreversible. Her arms are tied now, but she’s still a threat. Rarity: She went to Canterlot to warn the others with her sister sweetie belle, but they had the same luck as Twilight, she told me that when they arrived there, everypony was dead, all she remembers is she started to run, she ran for a long time while she was wishing those memories be gone. When she stopped running, she said she almost fainted when she remembered she left her sister alone. She has no emotions now, not after seeing the corpses and after she lost her sister. Her eyes, they have no emotions, it’s like they see through your soul. They all lost their hope, they all are just waiting for the end, they all only want a miracle, or a quick and painless death. But I need to change it, I offered them to hide them while this ends, Twilight, Luna and Rainbow Dash accepted after thinking about it. I’m mostly worried about Apple Bloom, Pinkie and Rarity, they need medical and psychiatric help urgently. Day 50, I paid a huge amount of money to the best veterinarian I found, mostly for keeping his mouth shut. He says all the six ponies can be healed physically, but there’s no guarantee of a total psychiatric heal Day 54, To avoid any suspicion, I gave my last reports to Commander Edward. After he read everything, he rose from his chair and said with a big smile on his face: “you’re indeed the best on this, I’m glad those stupid ponies are dead now. You’ve earned a great promotion for this, who knows, maybe this land will have your name”. He laughed, he opened a bottle of rum and he drank it fast. I was about to pull my weapon and kill that miserable piece of.., but I had to contain. I swear he will pay Day 57, Commander Edward ordered me to lead a “cleaning commando”, a group of elite forces to eliminate the remaining walkers and clean the lands. Life is sometimes cruel, my first objective was Ponyville, it wasn’t easy at all to shoot at the undead ponies who were once my friends. Luckily, the “project walker” was designed not to last longer than a month, I’m glad most of the walkers were just puking blood on the floor and not attacking anymore, most of them died from starvation. Day 62, The commando is really fast, they clean at least three villages each day. Edward’s creation, “the bell”, is maybe his best invention. I still don’t understand how a person can be a genius and genocidal at the same time. Day 65, something unexpected happened today, I found another survivor while we were cleaning Appleloosa. Sweetie Bell is still alive, but she’s badly hurt and is full of fear, I found her in the basement of the city council. I was almost caught by the team, their orders were “no survivors”, but luckily they don’t question my orders. She’s safe now, but she still needs medical attention. Day 66, Sweetie Belle is safe now, I found out the medic of the team never agreed with Edward’s decisions. He agreed to take care of her while I contact the veterinarian who’s taking care of the other ponies. Day 67, finally, every piece of land is clean and ready to be populated again, the commander is happy, but I’m not. I found out the walker project was prohibited since the last year. I’ll make sure he will pay for the things he has done recently. Day 72, The Interpol broke through the HQ, they arrested Edward under the charges of using forbidden weapons and genocide.They were about to execute him, but I ordered them not to do that, I want him to suffer for the rest of his days in the Gulag. Day 74, my partners threw a party for me, I got promoted to commander due to my services. However I felt sad, I still remember Pinkie’s parties, but I didn’t let my partners know. As a commander I can make important decisions, and I know perfectly what to do now. Epilogue Day 87, Too many things have happened and I was so busy I didn’t have time to write down my memories. First, I ordered that Canterlot and Ponyville won’t be on our possession for the only reason of honoring and respect the memory of the Ponies who perished, second, the veterinarian could completely heal Twilight, Luna, Rainbow Dash and Apple Bloom, but he couldn’t do much on Rarity and Pinkie, they’re still traumatized, he’s afraid it could be irreversible. Day 92, who would have thought unicorns had the ability to repopulate a land? Twilight and Luna told me they have that natural skill, but it will take some time (one filly each week, in fact). As a commander, I ordered to return Canterlot to the ponies so they would have a place to live freely. Day 100, the first fillies were born (artificially), one will be named Sunlight and the other Hope, and they’re the first of many ponies who will form a new generation of ponies, a new generation that won’t suffer under the atrocities of the war Day 104, Twilight discovered my memories I hid in the room I used to sleep, she’s not even upset, she’s even happy there’s a source of what happened through my eyes so It could be told to future generations so it won’t happen again. I differ, all I want to do is to bury those memories and forget them forever Day 108, I went to see the ponies who were still at the medical center, here are their medical status Rainbow Dash: Her wings were successfully healed, but she can’t join the Thunder bolts. She said it was alright, she is planning to create and lead a new generation of elite pegasi in honor of the fallen ones. They will be called “The Lightning Bolts”. Rarity: After finding out her sister was still alive, she only wanted to see her. The medic who was tending Sweetie Bell immediately brought her. Their encounter after days of suffering was just as I expected. Rarity now has her emotions back to her. They both were happy, they hugged and started to cry. Pinkie Pie: She never recovered from these events. She’s not happy anymore, she’s not even angry, she’s calmed, like if she was a mannequin. She only said one thing before she started to scream in agony and pain: “please, forgive me, please”. I doubt she will recover from this Day 115, I still can’t believe all those things happened in such a short time, fortunately the worst has happened and things are returning to normal, I’m planning to return all the lands taken from the ponies slowly. I will do everything I can to undo all those atrocities occurred during the last months. I guess this is my last entry on those memories. I feel everything will be peaceful and normal for a long time, but there’s a question i can’t answer: where did Fluttershy go? She wasn’t neither between the deceased nor the survivors; did she find another land far away from here? Or did she have a unique skill no one ever knew? I guess it will remain as a mystery. The end References https://docs.google.com/document/d/1gi8gB7Zj6IzdyNsZkD0yZiny-tPz1QSlbpFEjRlg3pY/edit?hl=en_US